Original Article

, Volume: 12( 11)

Organizational Tools for Controlling the Environmental Performance in Moroccan Industrial Companies: The Case of Butagaz Casablanca

*Correspondence:

El Hour S , Laboratory of Biotechnology, Environment and Quality, Faculty of Science, Ibntofail University, PO Box 133, 14000, Kenitra, Morocco, Tel: 212-537374052; E-mail: s.elhour@gmail.com

Abstract

The main objective of this scientific research is to present the summary results and practices to help companies develop a method for evaluating their environmental management using appropriate performance indicators. It draws on various studies and surveys conducted on the practical experience of several industrial companies surveyed. The calculation of indicators of environmental performance for enterprises surveyed revealed that over 92% of the environmental costs arise from the loss of resources in discharges, waste and emissions. This exercise also identified a range of opportunities for pollution prevention whose recirculation of the reagents in the process and the establishment of evaluation of environmental performance methods. The results of this scientific research demonstrate that by working with these environmental performance indicators, organizations can achieve sustainable industrial development.

Keywords

Environmental management system; ISO 14001; Organizational tools; Environmental performance

Introduction

In recent years, most Moroccans industrial companies have realized the need to develop an organizational tool for environmental performance management and to assess because it is difficult to run what is not measured, in the same context, a good environmental management is, therefore, a sine qua non-for improvement of environmental performance [1]. But a large majority of industrial enterprises certified or not, find it difficult to implement an organizational tool for the appropriate environmental performance steering their activities and thus a suitable method to evaluate their performance.

Several tools have recently been developed to assist companies in developing their search for environmental performance indicators.

Environmental performance is a measure arrived at by assessing both the tangible and intangible activities, conditions or circumstances that affect the social and/or physical aspects of the ecosystem [2], and an Environmental Performance Indicator is a tool that provides information on the progress made by the company on environment among the main indicators used in a number of Moroccan women surveyed industrial companies, there are:

• The evolution of the annual water consumption compared to a target.

• The number of goals "environment" achieved in a year compared to the number of targets.

• The evolution of the tonnage of waste land filled in recent years.

However, these indicators should be evaluated relative to the level of performance before a regulatory reference and / or a target set by the company.

In this sense, the evaluation of environmental performance is the main tool for measuring performance against objectives and predetermined criteria. The evaluation of environmental performance plays thereby a double role, that of identifying improvement opportunities and determines whether the environmental measures carried out are reflected in improvements in environmental performance.

From a historical point of view, even if it is difficult to trace the emergence of the assessment of environmental performance within organizations, it really developed with the rise of environmental standards aware of recent years, especially following the publication of ISO 14001. That is why the evaluation of environmental performance is generally included in an environmental management system as the preferred diagnostic tool.

System performance evaluation is often based on the development and analysis of appropriate models [3], therefore, the evaluation of environmental performance should provide the information necessary to enable the organization to pursue its environmental goals and monitor its environmental performance. The evaluation of environmental performance and should help an organization: Identify environmental aspects and determine which aspects will be addressed, as significant, set goals and targets to improve environmental performance and thus evaluate performance against these objectives and short- and long-term targets, identify opportunities to better manage its environmental aspects, identify trends in its environmental performance, to review the environmental performance and improve efficiency, identify strategic opportunities, and finally report on the environmental performance and communicate internally and externally.

The Indicators of Environmental Performance

Objective of developing environmental performance indicators

ISO 14031 describes two general categories of indicators for environmental performance evaluation:

• Environmental performance indicators (EPIs).

• Environmental condition indicators (ECIs).

Environmental performance indicators provide information about the environmental performance of an organization, while Environmental condition indicators provide information about the condition of the environment [4].Environmental performance indicators help to measure an organization's impact on the environment, including ecosystems, land, air and water. They clearly illustrate how the organization is performing, and provide management with the necessary information to make decisions for future improvements [5], the main objectives of environmental performance indicators are essentially: decision support and reporting. They are very useful in domestic but also for the communication of information outside of the company.

A) Internally industrial company

• For the leadership: Provide them a database about the environmental situation of the company (major environmental costs, regulatory compliance ...), provide management with a tool to help make strategic decisions (what are aspects to be given priority?), and help management monitor environmental results (investments).

• For the responsible: Introduce regular monitoring of the main parameters (water consumption, waste production), provide a tool for decision making, continuous improvement of process efficiency.

• For the staff: Educate and empower workers to workplaces, and justify the creation of new working methods in the field of environmental management.

B) Externally industrial company

• For the customer: Give a comprehensive picture of the environmental management of the company through an understandable and faithful to reality, and demonstrate the commitment of the company's environmental management.

• For financing institutions: Present a synthetic picture of the environmental situation of the company (liabilities, environmental costs and risks).

Application of indicators of environmental performance

The definition and selection of environmental performance indicators is still at an early stage, but the use of indicators is increasing, both for tracking trends in pollution and other environmental issues on a large scale (national or regional) [6].

The implementation of environmental performance indicators in the companies of the industrial area in Butagaz Company can be interesting for any type of activity to be certified or not, in this sense the indicator can be used by organizations of all sizes (from small to large companies or multinational) and any type of activity, so the process of implementing new performance indicators so that they become ingrained in the culture of the business presents both opportunity and challenge [7].

For non-certified companies, the indicators will identify the key environmental issues of the company, to take action to try to resolve them and to assess whether the actions taken have been effective.

Construction of environmental performance indicators can also be a first step for the subsequent implementation of an environmental management system.Therefore, The Environmental Management System is a tool for compliance with the regulations on environmental protection, improved relations with regulatory authorities, prevention and control of pollution and improved Image Company. Official recognition of the Environmental Management System Company through its certification [8].

For companies that implement an Environmental Management System (EMS), the use of environmental performance indicators is strongly recommended at various stages, the usefulness of indicators is:

• During the initial environmental analysis and the identification of aspects and impacts significant (dashboard of the initial situation).

• To monitor the targets set.

• To verify that the EMS is effective.

• To easily communicate key information relating to the environment.

Types of indicators performance

Performance indicators are performance measures that have value for one of two types of inter-organizational comparison, performance Indicators are useful as a gauge of how a utility stacks up to other and how the performance of one is changing relative to others with data and the system [9]. Therefore, after our bibliographic search on available reference, we have found that ISO 14031 standard presents three major categories of performance indicators; however, all indicators presented are not necessarily relevant to all businesses. Each company must select the indicators it considers important to meet its own environmental performance criteria (regulations, targets).

In this context, performance indicators provide us with the information and evidence that help us gain new insights, enable us to learn, assist us in our decision making and allow us to act on it to improve future performance [10].

A. The management performance indicators: Management performance indicators (MP1s) are a type of indicators that provide information about the management efforts to influence the environmental performance of the organization’s operations. Amongst information there are mainly:

• Indicators on the implementation of policies and programs, the number of targets and objectives achieved, and the number of implementations of pollution prevention initiatives.

• Indicators on compliance: the degree of compliance with regulations, the time to respond to environmental incidents or to correct, and the number of fines and penalties or costs arising therefrom.

• The financial performance relative indicators: costs related to the environmental aspects of a product or process, the return on investment for environmental improvement projects, the savings through the reduction of resources used, the prevention of pollution and waste recycling.

• Indicators concerning relations with the community: the number of inquiries or comments regarding environmental issues, and the number of sites publishing environmental reports.

B. Operational performance indicators: These indicators provide information on the environmental performance related to an organization operation. These indicators relate in particular to "inbound" and "outbound" company (consumption and emissions). Among these indicators, there are mainly:

• Energy indicators (energy used per year or per product, amount of energy used per customer or service).

• Indicators supplies and deliveries (the number of daily deliveries for each mode of transport).

• Indicators products (the rate of defective products, the number of new products on the market, including hazardous properties is limited).

• Indicators services provided by the organization (the amount of detergent used per square meter).

• Indicators waste (waste per year or per unit of product, the amount of hazardous waste disposed of following a substitute material).

• Indicators emissions (amount of specific emission per year or per unit of product).

C. The environmental condition indicators: Environmental performance indicators must be complemented by the environmental condition indicators in order to assess current and future impacts and to identify improvements or deterioration [11].

The environmental condition indicators provide information on local conditions, regional, national or global environment. This information should be able to help organizations better understand the impact of its activities on the environment. Among this information, there are mainly:

• The concentration of a specific pollutant in the ambient air as of specific monitoring points.

• Dissolved oxygen in waters exposed to pollution.

• The concentration of a specific contaminant in surface soils to given points of the area surrounding the plant.

• The level of lead in the blood of the local population.

The Environmental Performance Assessment Approach

The basic notion of assessing environmental performance is relatively straightforward: it refers to the evaluation of societal attainment with relation to environmental matters [12].

In the first, it is to define what we want to evaluate (the production line, storage and processing chain ...). The evaluation of environmental performance approach should be a Continuous improvement: the company can start by putting up some pointers on the available data in its business. A subsequent phase will measure the missing parameters to improve the system.

Identification of significant environmental aspects

One of the more important functions that an EMS can contribute involves identifying an organization's significant environmental aspects [13].

The first step should be to highlight the environmental aspects arising from the company's business. Initially, only Priority aspects (significant) in the environmental management field will be studied and will be monitored.

The method we propose, according to the analysis of survey results, beginning with the identification of these aspects based on a single summary table presented on the following pages. They can be highlighted through the various techniques proposed in the framework of the implementation of an Environmental Management System (eco-maps, the flow based on flow analysis chart).

Identify and collect available data

It is also important to identify what data is available in your company, including:

• Environmental objectives (reduction of water consumption, reduction of waste).

• Inventory (hazardous products in stock, commodities).

• The data available about the release (discharge of water, waste produced).

• The checks performed.

• Regulatory impositions and limit values.

• Operational monitoring documents (quantity produced).

• Available records (complaints, training).

• Environmental accounting.

A summary sheet allows synthesizing the available data in a single dashboard. Missing data, regulatory objectives and those set by the company are also highlighted.

• The objectives serve as a reference for the subsequent construction of performance indicators.

• In the first part of the document, it seems important to highlight the following points:

• The type of business carried on by the company.

• The product data produced by the company to bring the indicators to the unit produced.

• Other data may also be interesting for the construction of the indicators:

• The number of employees.

• The number of hours of work.

• Turnover.

The definition of this activity indicator reported to the unit produced sometimes poses difficulties for companies that perform various types of products.

Other indicators are then used as such, the indicators reported to the employee at the time of work or number of the company's business.

Finally, the collected data should be relatively easy to obtain, reliable, verifiable, relevant.

The choice of indicators

This a crucial step in the implementation process of assessment of environmental performance. The company must choose appropriate indicators and best suited to their business and help it in the process of decision making (mainly SMEs).

Indeed, there is not a perfect indicator and standards, which is why every company must define performance indicators of its own based on:

• Their needs and target audience.

• Aspects and significant impacts that highlighted beforehand.

Cost of Controlling the Environmental Performance in Butagaz Company

Data collection

Cost collection of the data was performed using a questionnaire of 86 issues in the internal financial management of the company Butagaz Casablanca. The year 2014 was chosen because it is the first representative year of annual environmental costs to be borne by the company in the coming years.

Cost data from three sources: The first source comes from the budget items of the environment department of the factory Butagaz which includes 23 items of expenditure, including expenses in salaries and benefits and expenses related to environmental monitoring, including the purchase cost of the sampling equipment as well as the costs of analysis by accredited laboratories.

The second source: It comes from the budget item s of the environment department of the headquarters. The expenses of environmental concern headquarters of the Moroccan factory Butagaz since it is the only well-equipped in terms of environmental management. These costs include among others the investments in research and development.

The third source: It is the internal management systems of the responsible procurement department. These systems have provided information for the consumer and input costs.

Environmental cost data

Cost data were recorded in a spreadsheet built according to the guidelines of the environmental management accounting from the proposed model. This framework of class analysis environmental costs in 5 cost categories and a category of income: costs of outputs other than products, processing costs of pollution, costs of pollution prevention and environmental management, and research costs development, intangible costs and environmental revenues. For the purposes of this test, intangible costs are not included. Costs are then classified according to whether they concern one or other of the areas of the environment: air emissions, effluent, waste, energy, soil or other. For privacy reasons, the disaggregated data are not presented in our article. The analysis focuses instead to aggregate environmental costs by type of cost and the percentage distribution of total costs of environmental costs. The following sections briefly describe the items recorded in each of the cost categories and assumptions and implementation difficulties.

Pollution treatment costs

The costs associated with pollution treatment include all maintenance and operational costs of processing equipment at the end of pipe and the value of the depreciation of the equipment. This cost category also includes expenditure on external services, expenses, taxes and permits, insurance, spending remediation and compensation, and finally in fines and penalties related to environmental nature of the offenses.

Costs of pollution prevention and environmental management

The costs of pollution prevention and environmental management are mainly related to the environmental monitoring program. Although monitoring has more to do with environmental compliance with the pollution prevention, environmental management accounting literature usually classifies environmental monitoring activities under the label of pollution prevention. For these reasons, the same logic is applied here. A series of measurement devices provide monitoring of the nine areas of the environment included in the monitoring program. This requires an internal workforce that cares to take the samples, calibrate instruments, gather data, etc. The equipment must also be maintenance object besides requiring the operation of equipment such as filters, microphones, sensors, etc. External consultants are also asked to analyze the samples and monitoring data grabbing a large share of the costs of pollution prevention.

Butagaz Company: Sustainable and Responsible Development

If there is one thing in which Butagaz is committed daily, is the protection of the environment. As a corporate citizen, his will is part of a responsible approach to all activities is more topical than ever, in this sense, Butagaz major concern is to ensure effective sustainable development.

The gas is a fossil fuel cleaner (not fines) and emitting less greenhouse gases (example CO₂).

In order to still make a gas power even cleaner daily, Butagaz stronger every year actions to make energy savings and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

Butagaz manages the territory Moroccans 2 filling stations and 06 depots. To reduce its environmental impact, Butagaz undertakes several levels:

• Reduce resources for the activities of industrial sites (water, raw materials such as steel or brass, petroleum products, energy).

• Limiting emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants.

• Reduce the amount of waste and reduce noise and smells.

• Recycle maximum metals and compounds used.

Engaged in a process of continuous improvement following the implementation since 2011 of a carbon footprint of activities, Butagaz and reduced in 4 years over 23%, CO₂ emissions as shown in Figure. 1 [14].

Conclusion

Butagaz Company has made great strides in environmental protection abreast of recent years. Regulatory pressures, requires the development of an environmentally sound management of increasingly rigorous. Yet in most environmental organizations remain on the margins of productive activity value. This is one reason why environmental protection is seen even today as an additional production cost.

The development of an organizational tool to control environmental performance is an innovative and structured movement which promoted the transformation of perceptions and the more harmonious integration of environmental and economic challenges of organizations. Its use ensures synergy and natural combination between economic performance and environmental performance by promoting strategies for pollution prevention. To achieve such a feat, the development of an organizational tool to control environmental performance is based on the assumption that everything that comes out of a process without an end product is, by definition, pollution. By this hypothesis, the environment can no longer remain on the sidelines of the value of productive activity, because the generation of pollution is directly associated with significant production costs over which the organization has to work to maintain its profitability.

Finally, the development of new tools for environmental management, including the development of indicators in our scientific paper, has the potential to fundamentally change the approach to environmental protection in organizations. These tools should support the transition from passive environmental management to a proactive environmental management.

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